The club gave its foundation date as 1875,[3] and its first recorded match was a 3–0 defeat away to Upton Park in November that year, although Dreadnought turned up with only eight men and had to rely on three unnamed substitutes.

The Football Association ordered a replay,[10] which South Reading won again, by the same score, in a "warmly contested" match.

[11] The last match for the club in the competition was its first round defeat by Old Foresters in 1883–84, a match played at the Forest School in Walthamstow rather than the old boys' regular pitch in Snaresbrook; as a sign that the day of the amateur club at the highest levels was over, the crowd did not exceed 200,[12] when ties in the north were attracting over twenty times that amount.

The club took part in the first three editions of the London Senior Cup, but only won one tie.

[15] The club played at the West Ham Park,[16] using the Upton Tavern for facilities.